There is joy and blessedness in being permitted to witness in an age of doubt and unbelief to that precious faith committed unto us. 
The Rt Rev'd H.B. Whipple, Founder of The Church of the Good Shepherd, Maitland, Florida, 1881

Dearly Beloved in Christ,

We have a tendency in our era to understand the word "law" in terms of prohibitions, and oftentimes as something that prevents us from doing what we would really like to do.  We can also have a rather jaundiced regard for the law as something that is weighted in favor of those who can afford to manipulate the system.

God's law is so very different.  God's law is founded on his holy and perfect character - it is the active outworking of his love that provides wholeness for his people. The Psalmist pleads for God to fully instruct him in his law which he loves "more than gold and precious stones."

Beloved in Christ, God's perfect law of love now resides within us, it is no longer external, but an internal reality through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit for whom our bodies are a temple (1 Cor. 6:19).  The question is to what extent do we cooperate with the law of love dwelling within us?  Our free will was not wrested from us at baptism when we received the Holy Spirit.  We can choose the extent to which we surrender ourselves to the outworking of the law of love that has taken up residence within us. 

The more we cooperate, the more we sense God's presence with us.  The more we cooperate, the more whole we become.  The more we cooperate the more fully we are able to receive the blessings that God has already given us.

Jesus tells us that this law of love requires that we do not personally seek to take revenge on those who have harmed us, indeed that we are to return their evil with a decision to love.  He is not talking about manufacturing a feeling that does not exist, but through an act of the will allowing the Holy Spirit to love through us.  He does not say it is easy - but he has provided us with an example: reviled, scourged, spat upon, and crucified he chose to love those who had harmed him "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."  May we do likewise.

"Pour into our hearts your greatest gift, which is love, the true bond of peace and of all virtue, without which whoever lives is accounted dead before you."

In His Peace, Grace, and Love,
Rev'd Sarah+